


Sunday Dinner at Abuela's House

by FlintMcC



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: M/M, Some mention of religion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:47:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22978606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlintMcC/pseuds/FlintMcC
Summary: Buck is invited to Sunday dinner at Eddie’s abuela’s home. He and Eddie both get a surprise, and it’s not something edible. Buck also learns something surprising about Eddie's past.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz
Comments: 14
Kudos: 340





	Sunday Dinner at Abuela's House

On the Sundays when Eddie didn’t have to work, he and Christopher usually had dinner with his Abuela Isabel and Tìa Pepa at Isabel’s house. This Sunday was going to be a little different however. Isabel was insistent. She told Eddie, “You bring that nice boy Evan Buckley with you this Sunday.”

Buck was thrilled to be invited to Eddie’s grandmother’s house for Sunday dinner. “What should I bring?” he asked Eddie.

Eddie shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Eddie, your grandmother invited me to Sunday dinner. I can’t go empty-handed,” Buck protested. “What about dessert?” he suggested.

“Oh-ho, no,” Eddie replied. “If you show up at Abuela’s with something to eat, she’s going to be very offended. No food!”

“Well, what, then?” Buck persisted. Eddie was no help. Finally, Buck exclaimed, “I know! Flowers! I’ll bring flowers!”

“Sounds like a plan,” Eddie smiled at him.

*-*-*

Sunday afternoon at the usual time, Eddie and Christopher made their way up the front walk to Isabel’s house. Buck brought up the rear, holding a bouquet of flowers behind his back. They hadn’t reached the porch when Isabel, who clearly had been watching for them, came out to greet them. “Eddito!” she exclaimed, putting her arms around her grandson and pulling him down to kiss his cheek. “And here’s mi ángel!” she said. Despite her replaced hip, she stooped down to kiss Christopher. Turning to Buck, she said, “Welcome, Evan!”

“Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Diaz,” Buck replied. He inclined his head slightly and pulled the bouquet out from behind his back. “These are for you,” he said, handing the flowers to Isabel with a smile and a flourish.

“Oh, they’re beautiful! Thank you so much!” She pulled Buck down for a kiss on the cheek, which made him blush a bit.

“You’re welcome,” he said, sounding a bit shy.

“Well, come in, come in!” Isabel ushered the three boys into the house, where Pepa was waiting to greet them. Isabel handed her the flowers. “Pepa,” she said, “put these in water.”

“Of course, Mamà,” Pepa replied. Carrying the bouquet, she turned to the dining room and ultimately the kitchen.

Isabel waved Eddie, Christopher, and Buck into the living room. “You boys go watch whatever game is on TV this afternoon. Dinner will be ready soon!” She hurried off to the kitchen to complete the meal.

Eddie turned on the television, and the three of them sat down on the sofa. Buck sat still for only a few minutes before he jumped up. Eddie looked a question at him. Buck jerked a thumb toward the kitchen. “I, I’ll just go see if there’s anything I can do to help,” he said. Eddie smiled and nodded. He could see Buck was eager to make a good impression on Abuela.

When Buck walked into the kitchen, Pepa was chopping vegetables at a butcher-block island in the center of the room while Isabel was stirring a pot of rice on the stove. “Mmm,” Buck said, “something smells really good!”

Isabel turned and smiled at him, “Roast chicken,” she said. “I hope you like roast chicken?” She turned back to the pot of rice she was stirring.

“Of course!” Buck replied. He added, “Is there anything I can do to help, Mrs. Diaz?”

Isabel turned to face him. She put down the spoon she was holding. “Yes,” she said. “You can stop calling me ‘Mrs. Diaz.’”

Buck looked at her with a puzzled expression on his face.

She smiled warmly at him. “You’re family here, Evan,” she said. “Call me ‘Abuela,’ like Eddie does.” She cast a knowing look at Pepa, who smiled and nodded her head.

“Th-thank you, Mrs.—Abuela,” Buck replied smiling broadly. So, Eddie’s grandmother considered him family? The thought made him very happy, almost giddy, in fact.

“Now, then,” Isabel nodded in the direction of the living room. “You go watch that game with the boys, and I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.”

Buck strolled back into the living room and sat down next to Christopher, stretching his arm out along the back of the sofa. He had a wide smile on his face, and he was blushing a little. Eddie noticed and looked at him with raised eyebrows. “I think I just got adopted,” Buck said. “I have an abuela now.”

“You have an abuela now?”

“Your grandmother. She just told me I shouldn’t call her ‘Mrs. Diaz.’ I should call her Abuela, like you do.”

Eddie smiled. “Welcome to the family, Buck,” he said.

Before too long, Isabel had Pepa call the Diaz boys and Isabel’s new adopted grandson into the dining room. She had set the table very carefully. As matriarch, she sat at the head of the table, with Pepa at the foot. She placed Christopher on her left and Buck on her right. Eddie sat next to Buck. As they sat down, Buck noticed his flowers in crystal vase on a sideboard, next to a small statue of the Blessed Virgin.

When they were all seated, Isabel said rather pointedly, “Eddie, will you say grace, please?”

Eddie looked at her self-consciously. He hadn’t exactly lapsed in his religious observance, but he hadn’t been to Mass since Shannon’s funeral. And then there was the not-so-little matter of his relationship with the man who was seated next to him.

Buck looked a little self-conscious himself. When he was growing up, his parents had been Christmas and Easter Methodists, and he wasn’t quite sure how to act. When Eddie bowed his head, Buck followed his example.

It took Eddie a moment or two, but he was able to dredge up a grace from the depths of his memory:

_Bless us, O Lord, and these Your gifts, which we are about to receive from Your bounty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen._

“Amen,” said Isabel and Pepa. Buck murmured his own Amen, but then Christopher chimed in with a cheerful and loud “Amen,” which earned him a smile from his great-grandmother.

Dinner, in Buck’s word, was “scrumptious.” The chicken and the rice were delicious, and Buck pleased his new abuela by asking for seconds on both. Isabel and Pepa asked Christopher about school and listened with smiles as the little boy talked about the new things he was learning. Eddie and Buck told stories of some of the more unusual and amusing calls they had at work, and Isabel embarrassed her grandson by telling Buck stories about Eddie’s childhood. When dinner and dessert were finished, Buck helped clear the table. Eddie gave him a smiling, side-long glance: Apparently he was taking his new status as adopted grandson very seriously.

When all was cleared away, Isabel turned to her great-grandson and said, “Christopher, mi ángel, why don’t you and Tìa Pepa go into the living room and watch whatever game it was you were watching? I need to talk to your papà and Evan for a few minutes.” As Christopher and Pepa left the room, Isabel turned to Eddie and Buck, who were halfway out of their chairs, and said, “Sit down, you two.” Eddie and Buck looked uncertainly at each other, but they sat down without saying anything.

Isabel rested her forearms on the table and leaned forward. “Now, then,” she said, “when were you boys going to tell me?”

“Tell you?” Eddie said uncertainly to his grandmother. Buck sat with his hands folded on the table. He stared straight ahead, but his eyes moved back and forth between Eddie and Isabel.”

“Tell me about the two of you,” Isabel went on.

“What about us?” Eddie countered.

“Eddito, mi nieto,” Isabel said with slight exasperation. “It’s plain for all to see that you boys are in love with each other. You might as well have neon signs on your foreheads.”

“Uh, Abuela. …” Eddie began, sounding a bit alarmed. Buck’s jaw dropped.

“Eddie,” Isabel pursued, “you two—three, actually,” she nodded toward the living room to indicate Christopher, “are together all the time. Your Instagram is full of pictures of all of you. To see them, you would think Christopher had two fathers instead of just one.”

“Instagram?” Eddie started, but Isabel interrupted.

“Ah, you didn’t think I knew about those things, did you? Well, Pepa does, and she shows me. And you’d have to be blind not to see the way you boys look at each other.”

“Abuela,” Eddie tried again, but again Isabel interrupted him.

“Eddito,” she said, her tone softening, “I’m a mother and a grandmother, and I know a boy in love when I see one. And I see it in you two. So, now, when were you going to tell me?”

Buck had sat with his hands folded and his head bowed. Now he turned to look uncertainly at Eddie. For his part, Eddie looked down at the table rather than at his grandmother. “I didn’t think you’d approve of us … being together,” he said quietly.

“Eddie,” Isabel sighed, “I’m your abuela, and I love you. I want you to be happy.” She put a hand on Buck’s forearm, and he turned to look at her. She continued, “Evan is a fine man. He loves Christopher, and I know he loves you.” She squeezed Buck’s arm, and he smiled at her shyly.

Eddie repeated, “I didn’t think you’d approve. The Church. …”

Again Isabel interrupted him. “Never mind the Church. The Holy Father himself has said, ‘Who am I to judge?’ Your papà and mamà and I love you, and we just want you to be happy.”

“You talked to Papi and Mamà about this?” Eddie said, alarmed.

“Of course,” Isabel said simply. “As far back as the party when your firefighter probation ended, your mamà asked me if I thought there was something between you boys. She saw the way you looked at each other, and I did, too.”

“Papi and Mamà,” Eddie began, but he broke off and sat silently staring at the table. Then he turned back to Isabel, but he said nothing.

“Your papà and mamà just want you to be happy,” she repeated. “Besides,” she added, “we’ve all known since you were in high school that you liked boys as well as girls.”

Eddie’s eyes widened as he looked at his grandmother. Buck’s eyes widened, too, as he looked at Eddie. Eddie liked boys when he was in high school? That was news to Buck.

“Oh, you tried to hide it,” Isabel laughed a little, quietly, “but you were terrible at it. We all knew. Your papà wasn’t too happy at first, but he got used to it. We all got used to it. We’re just sorry you never felt you could tell us,” she ended a little sadly.

“I’m sorry, Abuela,” Eddie said, not daring to look his grandmother in the eye. He was feeling ashamed of himself for hiding, or trying to hide, that part of himself from the people who loved him. He swallowed and turned to Isabel. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”

Isabel got up from her chair and walked around the table. She put one arm around Buck’s neck and the other around Eddie’s, and she pulled them both close. Looking from one to the other, she said, “You two are fine young men. Be happy. Love each other. Take care of each other.” She paused a moment, but then she nodded toward the living room. She added, “And take care of that little ángel in the living room. With his mamà gone, he needs you both.” Then she planted a kiss on both of them.

*-*-*

Later that evening, Eddie was driving Buck home to his apartment, with Christopher asleep in the backseat. They hadn’t driven very far from Abuela’s when he noticed that the air in the truck cab had grown a bit chilly. Buck was uncharacteristically silent. Frowning, Eddie turned to him. “Everything okay?”

Buck didn’t answer right away, but then he turned to Eddie and said, “When were you going to tell me?”

“Tell you?”

“Yeah, tell me. Tell me that you were into boys _and_ girls when you were growing up.”

Eddie looked away from him. “I guess I wasn’t,” he mumbled.

“What?”

“I said I guess I wasn’t going to tell you!” Eddie practically hissed, keeping his voice low. He didn’t want to wake Christopher.

“Eddie, we’ve been having sex for months. Were you ashamed to tell me you liked boys when you were a kid? Are you ashamed of us?” There was a bit of an edge to that last comment.

“No, I’m not ashamed of us!”

“Then why. …?”

Eddie interrupted. He said quietly, “When I was a kid, I knew I liked girls _and_ boys, but I was afraid of how the family would react if they found out, especially my dad—you know that whole ‘macho’ culture thing. Then I met Shannon, and I thought that whole part of my life was over. I stayed faithful to her, no guys, no women, even after she left. Then I met you.”

Buck thought a moment. Then he sighed, “I guess I wasn’t exactly that open about my own past with guys. And you never asked.”

“No,” Eddie said. “you weren’t, but then, I never felt I had a reason to ask. I knew about Abby, and I knew Ali, and Hen and Chim used to tell me stories about ‘Buck 1.0,’ so until we first … well, you know, it didn’t occur to me that you were … bi.” He wasn’t quite sure if he ought to use that word, _bi._

“I suppose I didn’t really think about you, either, even after we first got together,” Buck admitted. Then he cocked an eyebrow. “You never thought I had experience at man-sex?”

Eddie smiled at him. “I just thought you were really, really good at sex in general.”

Buck laughed. Then he smirked at Eddie. “I guess I am pretty good at it, huh?”

“Yes, you are,” Eddie smirked right back at him.

“Well, you inspire me to my best efforts,” Buck grinned, a twinkle in his blue eyes.

Eddie tentatively reached across the console between the front seats and put a hand on top of Buck’s.

“Are we good?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah.” Buck interlaced the fingers of his hand with Eddie’s. “Yeah,” he repeated, smiling, “we’re good.”


End file.
